An iPod that Touched My Heart

I upgraded to the new iPod Touch 3.0 software. $10 well spent. Here’s why:

• Copy and Paste. I’ve been needing it for all sorts of things, from sermon notes to quick e-mails to friends sharing a little web content. It works intuitively well, like all Apple GUI features.
• Spotlight. A needed improvement, and so easy to access.
• Search Mail. A much-needed improvement. I love my iPod Touch as an e-mail device.
• Notes Syncing. A little annoying that I have to use Apple Mail in OS X (a great program, but not as good as Gmail for my needs) for this.
• And the pièce de résistance, Turn-by-Turn Directions. Just load them before you go and they stay in the cache, complete with self-zooming maps for every step and simple click-the-arrow-for-the-next-turn instructions. My beautiful navigatrix loves it. It’s now hard to get the Touch out of her hands during a trip. But take my advice and have your navigatrix look a few turns ahead every time she tells you what to do next. Google Maps is not infallible.

The iPod Touch gets better all the time as more developers write—and then improve, for free—great software for it. I use it mostly for e-mail and Google Reader, but it’s also my alarm clock, my morning NPR streamer, my sermon-notes taker, and a handy device for the hard-to-redeem snatches of reading time a busy guy gets. I’ve rarely made a better purchase—especially considering that I got it for free with my iMac! But you simply must have a wireless network if you want to make good use of it.